SwapDrive, Inc., the first Application Service Provider (ASP) to provide a web-based system for online data backup and storage, and Decru, Inc., the leader in networked data storage security, this week announced that SwapDrive customers can now use Decru's security appliance, DataFort(TM) E440, in the SwapDrive server environment to secure data. SwapDrive is the first ASP to offer this security service to its worldwide customers.

With DataFort, SwapDrive offers customers layered security, combining hardware-based encryption, authentication and intelligent key management to create a powerful security solution that is easy to use and manage. SwapDrive customers will continue to remotely backup, store, and access critical information as they always have, but will now have the option of storing that data fully encrypted, with strict authentication. DataFort installation is fully transparent -- neither users nor SwapDrive internal support personnel must change the way they manage the data.

"Storing confidential data offsite can be a concern for many customers," said SwapDrive CEO, David Steinberg. "With Decru DataFort living in our production environment, we have enhanced safeguards to ensure that all data, while in transit or at rest is fully protected."

SwapDrive has deployed the DataFort between its application servers and its storage devices. Data is encrypted at wire-speed, so customers experience no performance impact. Decru's robust AES encryption ensures data is fully protected from unauthorized access when it lands on the storage device. Additionally, data remains encrypted when transferred to SwapDrive's mirrored sites, and onto backup media.

One SwapDrive customer is aviation consulting firm, ECLAT. "ECLAT consulting works with and for the aviation industry. Information is our business. And naturally, our information is often proprietary, and always confidential," said Randy Babbitt, President and CEO of ECLAT Consulting. "SwapDrive's addition of AES encryption to its data backup service makes us feel comfortable that our information is protected to the same high standards as the government's most sensitive agencies. No one else offers the kind of service SwapDrive does, with such high security."

"DataFort separates the ability to manage stored data from the ability to read it," said Dan Avida, president and CEO of Decru. "Data that is unencrypted on the storage device is open to both internal and external attacks. SwapDrive's layered approach to data security is a clear example of best practices."